Detection of Hantavirus RNA in Different Organs of Natural Infected Rattus norvegicus

In order to understand the genetic diversity and distribution of Hantavirus (HV) in different tissues of wild brown rats, we amplified the partial M segment of HV from various organs of 20 hantavirus positive Rattus norvegicus individuals which were collected from Beijing. Then the amplicons were sequenced directly and the genetic variation analysis was made with DNASTAR software. The “A→G” transitional mutations were detected only in the infected lung tissue. We also evaluated the HV quantities in these organs with real time PCR. Significant difference of HV prevalence rates was found among different organs of R. norvegicus （χ2=16.10，P=0.003）. The virus-loads in lung tissues of natural infected rats were significantly higher than those in other studied tissues. These results suggested that lung tissue of natural infected rat serves as the main target site for HV maintenance and replication; and HV mutation was more prone to occur in lungs. The findings are useful for further research in HV epidemiology and reservoir–HV relationship.